走街串巷 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

zǒujiēchuànxiàng

walk the streets

zǒu walk

Originally written as 夭, depicting a person swaying their arms (夭) while walking quickly. The foot component 止 was added later.

Components

夭 Iconic component

yāo, wò, wāi die young

Depicts a person walking quickly.

止 Meaning component

zhǐ (foot), stop

Depicts a foot.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Meaning (8 of 20 verified)

起越超赶趣趋赴趁趟赳趄趔趑趱趨趕趦趙趯赸

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	tsuwX	[ts]ˤoʔ	run

說文解字

《說文》：“走，趨也。从夭、止，夭止者，屈也。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.108漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

jiē street

Phonosemantic compound. 行 represents the meaning and 圭 represents the sound.

Components

行 Meaning component

xíng, háng walk

圭 Sound component

guī jade pointed at top

Change in sound

街 and 圭 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
街 *[k]ˤre
圭 *[k]ʷˤe

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kea	[k]ˤre	road-crossing

說文解字

《說文》：“街，四通道也。从行，圭聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

chuàn string

Pictograph of two objects on a skewer strung together.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	kwaenH	kˤro[n]-s	custom

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica

xiàng alley

Phonosemantic compound. 邑 represents the meaning and 共 represents the sound.

Components

共 Sound component

gòng together with

Change in sound

巷 and 共 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
巷 haewngH
共 gjowngH

邑 Meaning Remnant component

yì, è city

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	haewngH	C.[g]ˤroŋ-s	lane, street

說文解字

《說文》：“，里中道。，篆文。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)